B&R Initiative Beneficial to RMB Internationalization

The Belt and Road Initiative will drive the global adoption of the RMB， despite a decline in usage of the currency in international payments， according to a report released by SWIFT， the worlds leading provider of secure financial messaging services at the end of July.

SWIFT ranked the RMB as the sixth most widely used international payment currency， with the proportion of international currency payments denominated by RMB falling from 2.09 percent in June 2016 to 1.98 percent in June 2017， indicating a slowdown in RMB internationalization.

Despite the decline， the report noted the Belt and Road Initiative， among five prominent factors， will support a positive outlook for the internationalization of the RMB.

The four other factors are Chinas Cross-border Interbank Payments System （CIPS）， Hong Kongs role as an essential RMB intermediator， relaxation of capital market controls and the contribution of financial technology such as Alipay and WeChat Pay.

“Broader connectivity to RMB markets is becoming essential，” said Alain Raes， head of the EMEA and Asia Pacific region of SWIFT.

Statistics from the report show that more than 1，900 financial institutions worldwide were using the RMB for payments as of June 2017. Nearly 1，300 institutions use the RMB to make international payments with Chinas mainland and Hong Kong.

Digital Publications Revenue Increased in 2016

The revenue of Chinas digital publication industry reached RMB 572 billion （about US $85 billion） in 2016， a year-on-year growth of 29.9 percent， according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication in mid-July.

The report also showed Chinas accumulated digital publication user population reached 1.67 billion； 566 million of whom were online game players， representing a substantial growth.

Revenue from online advertisements has been rising significantly from 2006 to 2016 and raked in over RMB 290 billion last year， accounting for 50.7 percent of the total revenue of the digital industry.

Other sources of the revenue include mobile publications， online games， online education， digital comics， online music， and e-books， as they earned more than RMB 139 billion， RMB 82 billion， RMB 25.1 billion， RMB 15.5 billion， RMB 6.1 billion， and RMB 5.2 billion， respectively， last year， the report said.endprint

Online literature has kept its momentum despite the drop in the digital versions of traditional magazines and newspapers， as the proportion of original works rose from 69 percent to 79.7 percent in 2016.

The report also pointed out that audio books will become the new impetus to boost the growth of digital reading. Statistics from a white paper on digital reading in China show that the market scale of audio books grew by 48.3 percent， reaching RMB 2.91 billion in 2016.

Second Largest Medicine Consumer in the World

China has become the second largest consumer of medicine in the world， and the worlds biggest exporter of bulk pharmaceuticals according to Wu Zhen， deputy director of China Food and Drug Administration （CFDA）.

Wu estimated in mid-July that the annual main business income of Chinas 5，000 pharmaceutical companies had surpassed RMB 2.5 trillion （about US $373 billion）.

Up to 50 of the companies are certified in Europe or the U.S.， with their export volume exceeding US $13.5 billion， Wu said.

These figures signify Chinas increasing contribution to innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. An example of this is the discovery of artemisinin， now widely used to fight malaria， by Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou， which won her the 2015 Nobel Prize.

Along with the progress of globalization， China actively promotes international cooperation in pharmaceuticals， working especially closely with countries along the Belt and Road.

To meet the stringent requirements regarding drug safety and supervision， the CFDA has sped up the process of new drug approval and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of drugs.

Online Population in China Hits 751 Million

Chinas online population reached 751 million in June， up 2.7 percent from the end of 2016， according to the 40th China Statistical Report on Internet Development released by China Internet Network Information Center （CNNIC） in early August.

The number of netizens in China is about one fifth of the worlds total. The Internet penetration rate in the country had reached 54.3 percent as of June 2017， 4.6 percent above the global average， according to the report.

The report also shows that a total of 724 million Chinese now use mobile phones to go online， accounting for 96.3 percent of the online population.

Of the netizens， 514 million used online platforms for purchases， 480 million of whom shopped online via mobile phones. An analyst with CNNIC pointed out that due to the enhanced collaboration between E-commerce business and traditional retailers， the number of mobile payment users increased to 502 million. A total of 463 million use mobile phones to pay for their off-line consumption.

Food order and delivery applications saw the biggest rise in users. About 274 million netizens ordered takeout meals via mobile phones， a 41.4 percent increase from the end of last year， the report noted.

Moreover， thanks to the improved facilities for the mobile Web， the number of users of bikesharing applications hit 106 million at the end of June this year.endprint